The Dawn Archives: Three-to-One
by HeartBeatFailure-x
Summary: [Third in a planned series]. - No Summary Yet -
1. Chapter 1

**10 YEARS AGO**

 **Obito.**

He couldn't stop staring at the three rogue blips on his monitor that shouldn't be there, flashing on and off tauntingly. He'd been keeping an eye on the in-and-outgoings of the demon realm when they'd suddenly popped up… three unaccountable's just plodding through the centre of where the market should be. He hadn't seen their entry location and couldn't follow a trace back to a point to figure it out. They had literally come out of nowhere.

Sitting back, he glanced at the clock on the screen and frowned. He'd already worked past his usual work hours and as usual nobody had come to stop him. Why would they? Working late meant that you either needed to catch up, wanted the extra pay or were seeking some kind of credit for your efforts. Or maybe you were that desperate to bury your mistakes and hope The Head didn't find out about it. Obito just got distracted, far too engrossed in his work to care about what time it was outside.

And those three blips, well, he couldn't leave those just wandering around unverified, could he? He flagged them on his personal system and gave them names - A, B and C - and then copied them to his portable device. He didn't log it on the main network server because he couldn't track where they'd come in from - and half a story wasn't a full report, so until he knew for sure, he'd satiate his curiosity first.

He closed down the computer, locked everything behind him and held his pass up to the secure doors that the Info-Labs were kept behind. Next, he found the nearest capable person of creating a portal and input his destination - the demon realm - and once his security was cleared via his pass, he was able to step right through unquestioned and without hassle.

The Demon Realm was pretty miserable to those who weren't used to it. The place was filled with all kinds of demon that seemed to suck the air from the spaces they kept - having more than eight demons in a room generally became claustrophobic.

The ones with wings were inescapable and the ones with horns were easily angered. The shadow ones were dangerous because they were everywhere, and if you had a fire demon on your trail, you were as good as barbecued chicken. So he kept to the shadowed walls (and there were plenty of those) and kept his hood drawn as far over his head as he could. It was simple enough to take to the shadows to hide himself, but navigating the streets wasn't easy. Everything looked the same.

Checking his portable device, a little like a mobile phone, A, B and C were moving quickly. He only had a maximum of ten hours before he'd start to feel the pressure that was the permanent atmosphere of the demon world, and while it seemed like enough time it wasn't uncommon for it to pass distortedly. He followed quickly and quietly through the shadowed streets, taught and trained by the best to do the very thing he was a genius at - gathering information. He preferred the technological kind, anything cyber or mechanical - but field work was a change and to have three unidentified blips on his radar just wasn't common-occurrence.

He was closing in on them when A, B and C disappeared in a single flash. One beep and they were on screen, another and they were gone. Most likely gone in the same way they'd appeared. Out of nowhere. Obito was left staring at his device wondering if it had malfunctioned - though he seriously doubted that was the case as it was _his_ device and his things didn't just malfunction.

If A, B and C had used a portal to go somewhere else, their blips would have faded like a dying signal. To have it disappear meant either magical interference or death, but to have all three disappear together like that was just odd. He waited another three hours for them to appear, assuming that if they weren't dead and it was magic that they'd eventually resurface. When the dull headache began to squeeze at his head, signalling his overdue stay, he had to portal back.

He tried to ignore the matter and pass it off as 'unexplained', but he couldn't seem to do it as well as he did with the other things. There were little light dots on everything, the tv monitor, the clock, the doors, everything reminded him of A, B and C. He probably fell asleep staring at the flashing light on the clock, wondering if that would stop too.

Fifteen years old, a full time job, not another care in the world other than three annoying shouldn't-be-there blips.

OOO

The next time it happened, he wasn't so sure it was a coincidence. Again, they'd flagged up on his personal system in the demon realm and he'd stared at them as they'd taken the same path through where the market was. He hadn't put them on the central system as a 'precautionary measure' because he wasn't convinced they were a problem just yet.

This time, he recorded their movements and watched as they vanished once again - he noted the co-ordinates and left the matter alone. He'd figure it out when he had time. The Head was walking around the facility with his son in tow, nothing but a child with a helpful grin and a pure determination to help. He tried to ignore that the boy was only three years younger than him.

Obito couldn't look at him properly - it broke his heart to know that the boy would become a carbon copy of his father, as the eldest son. With a father like Fugaku Uchiha there was no other alternative. So Obito kept to his necessary tasks, not wanting to risk his position over three odd blips that may or may not be a fluke or draw attention to himself because of it. There were more important things to be fussy over.

When he'd officially finished for the day, and the stress had worked its way from his shoulders, he programmed his destination into the portal system and swiped his pass across the pad. A minute later and he was standing in the most obvious place in the demon market square - and it didn't take him long to find some cover.

Following the coordinates he'd written on their Disappearing Point, he ended up outside an entire block that would be pointless to search. It would be a playground to them; he needed more information - something to narrow it down to. Short of waiting for them to come back and follow, he didn't have any other ideas. He couldn't wait forever, either. So then began Phase 2. He needed to know if there was any consistency in their movements.

So he did what he was good at. Watching, waiting and gathering the information and details.

OOO

It took longer than expected for his mini project to draw any conclusions. A year and counting, to be exact.

Work at The Facility with the Uchiha Corps had taken an odd turn and he'd been so inundated with work that he barely spared half an hour to download the day's data on A, B and C and save it to an external drive. Whatever Fugaku was up to had called for an insane increase for data protection and security, not just for the records they were keeping but for the projects they were planning on working on - everything logged on the network had to be recorded, anything that passed through each electronic door had to be authorised. Setting those kinds of systems up took time, and months passed before he got a chance to check up on A, B and C's movements again, let alone study their recordings to draw some kind of conclusion.

Now he was officially sixteen The Head had had him working more hours. While he appreciated the extra finances, it wasn't like he had much time outside of work to do anything with it.

So one evening he managed to find some time - when he wasn't so tired he could collapse onto his bed with a screen-induced headache and exhaustion. He fired up his personal system and ran the tracking programme, downloading its recorded data for the day and inputting it into the external system he'd created to draw the comparisons for him. While that worked, he made himself a hot drink and had a shower, and was warm and comfortable and slightly drowsy by the time he came back to check the results.

Their entry and exit points were still unidentified. There was no real consistency in where they appeared and disappeared, despite almost ten months of constant data. But he had found the general area they aimed for and stayed within - near and close to that apartment block. He still couldn't predict when they'd show up. There was nothing consistent about their visits and while that was slightly worrying, he couldn't find it in his instincts to be concerned. They weren't doing any damage. Besides, he was unnerved to realise that he was far too tired to let his curiosity rule him this time.

OOO

On his days off, he took his portable device and armed himself with a few weapons, staking out the apartment block whenever he could. He kept to himself, away from everyone else so as not to cause a scene. There was now a growing concern about the Uchiha's as a clan - their odd, more-than-human capabilities setting them somewhere in the middle of both the human world and the supernatural one. Their hereditary features weren't much help, either. Too different to be human and not quite odd enough to be supernatural. Their ambitions to supersede everything weren't winning them any favours either, but they argued it was simply 'evolution'. They were walking a fine line, Obito thought, and pushing the demon's back wasn't the way to go about it. Hiding in the shadows and lurking like the stuff of nightmares wasn't going to bring about any kind of peace, and if the demons ever found out half of what was being developed in The Facility, he'd be long gone before they turned his way.

OOO

His eyes locked on his device as soon as the blips reappeared. He was on a roof, his head feeling the dull ache of an oncoming migraine; he'd already been there too long. But the blips were back, A, B and C were here and, if luck would have it, be passing right underneath him in the streets. He held his breath, willing them to hurry up before he physically threw up that days lunch.

But what he saw made his head swim in all kinds of confusion, and he had to stop himself from throwing up regardless.

 _Kids. They're just kids._

Three of them, small and thin framed were racing and laughing down the street just as he'd predicted they would, heading straight for the apartment block that they always seemed to come and go from.

Kids. Barely in double digits if their frames were anything to go by.

They were gone as soon as they'd come and he'd been too astonished to do anything other than gape at them.

He dreamt that night of harsh lights and the odd rumours that were whispered around The Facility. He saw those kids' shadows, heard their laughter and watched their forms race past him in taunting circles, vanishing into the distance in blips of light.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

OOO

He was paranoid for a while after that, half wanting to keep an eye on them for safety reasons and half wanting to just ignore them altogether - format everything and be rid of them. Paranoid about their state and safety until he could draw a decision, he'd locked his personal tracking system and disabled it for the entire week, burying himself in his data and codes and pretending not to care about why three kids were roaming the demon realm alone. Three kids that clearly _weren't_ demon-kind.

"You must be Obito"

He flinched at the voice and glanced at the pale reflection from his computer monitor. No point in turning around and being trapped completely.

"I'm Orochimaru"

"I know who you are" He said quietly, still not turning. "I'm in the middle of something, so…."

"I need a favour" The thing came closer and all the hairs on Obito's neck and arms stood in warning. "You won't like it"

"What is it?" Anything to get that creep away from him. He was the new lab technician working in the lower levels with some of the new projects that The Head - Fugaku - had installed. Even Obito wasn't sure what he was doing, or setting up or designing or creating or killing, but there was something not quite right with him at all. He wasn't a Uchiha for a start, and putting him in a position of power would mean that Fugaku must trust him - but Obito had never even heard of him. There was a horrible mirage over Orochimaru that he just couldn't figure out - it was like he was shrouded in layers. Who knew what was at the core?

"I need you to find me a few interesting things" He put four files on the desk. "And then I need you to erase them. They've been signed off, I assure you" He nudged a file open and Fugaku's signature was plain and obvious on the first page.

"We have field agents for getting rid of those kind of problems"

"Yes, I know that" Orochimaru leant forwards onto the desk, invading Obito's space and turning off his computer screen. Every cell in the Uchiha's body rebelled in the only way it knew - hereditary, or just plain contagious, typical to his clan - he froze.

"I'm asking you to erase them completely" Erase everything. But anybody could do that as long as they had the security clearance. Fugaku had the clearance to do whatever the hell he wanted. Obito frowned at the files, wanting to open them, to see what was in them and try and find out what the guy's angle was.

"You want me to erase their existence" He realised. It was the only thing that Fugaku couldn't do - he didn't know how to completely get rid of a life - data, files, history, records…the lot. Something like that was so very easy to Obito - his very own life-threatening skill. He could do what Orochimaru was asking him to do within a few hours - but he'd never had or wanted to, and certainly never as completely as Orochimaru now needed him him to.

 _But why?_

Why did Orochimaru want him to do this? What good could possibly come of getting rid of someone's life? The fact he knew how didn't mean anything at all. He'd make a terrible field agent - it was why he stuck to information. He couldn't kill another being, would have nightmares about their dying eyes for decades, he was sure of it. He couldn't just erase a life like it meant nothing, demon or vampire or human or anything, they all deserved to make and keep their mark on the lives that surrounded them. Good or bad.

 _So Why?_

 _Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?_

"As soon as you can, please" Orochimaru leant back, turned the screen back on and started walking out. "If you could let me know when it's done, I'd be very much in your debt" He slithered on out and Obito stared at the files like they were contaminated somehow. Like maybe if he didn't open them, the task he'd been given would go away.

But it also might be an opportunity to figure out what plans Fugaku and that creep were moving towards.

 _Always curious,_ he sighed at his terrible self control and opened all four of the files, profile pages staring back at him.

OOO

He knew things were warped when he felt more comfortable in the demon realm than he did his own office. Over the space of a year, he'd been getting more odd requests to do strange things - not only delete data, but manipulate it so completely that it was inarguable - which he was pretty sure was illegal. They'd also asked him to start building a system that could work alongside the tracking system he'd already implemented. It would ban movements from unauthorised beings and trap them, containing them until they were brought in for a reprimand - which sounded suspiciously like kidnapping. He'd long since hidden A, B and C from any detection - no scanners should pick them up so long as they kept on using the method they were using.

As long as they 'popped' in and out, the system would ignore the 'pop' and only look for its usual fade-in and fade-out - the only legitimate way of getting around through portals. He didn't know why those three kids could pop in and out as they pleased, but he hadn't encountered it before, they weren't doing any harm, and his workload had increased too much for him to be so curious about it any more.

So hiding and ignoring them had been his best bet.

Until he found himself thinking of their laughter again, their carefree races through a dark and dismal world echoing in his mind like a tape.

He needed to see some of the good that he wanted to believe was still out there. He'd done a shit ton of Bad recently and wasn't feeling too great about the future. He'd been given a raise at work, by far the best paid worker of his age now, but it hardly made up for his lack of meals and terrible sleeping patterns. He'd thought about sabotaging a number of things in The Facility too many times, and it was then that he started thinking of somewhere else to be, or go, or something else to do. The demon realm hadn't been a moments thought away, so he took a day off with the aim of spending it trying to see why people visited so often.

It was still dark and gloomy and the demons were still too big and overbearing and sociable, but he couldn't see the qualities that made up its reputation. Instead, he'd gone back to the roof, just sitting for a stupid amount of time and hoping something would catch his eye.

When they ran past him, he thought they looked older than they had before. He'd spied them only on occasion when he'd managed to coincide his free time with a possible drop in of theirs and he only managed to see their thin outlines as they raced eachother down the street and into the apartment blocks he'd eventually lose them in.

They were always covered with hats on their heads and chunky coats wrapped around them, but he knew them when he saw them. And now they were bigger, taller and a bit more filled out. They looked well, and if they could still run though the demon world like it meant nothing to them then they probably were doing just fine. At least they weren't dead.

 _"What are you doing?"_

He froze at the odd voice, willing himself to be calm and come up with an easy response. If he turned around too quickly then the demon might see it as an attack. Hell knew what kind of demon had managed to find him on a roof, but he wasn't going to risk a brawl.

"Watching the clouds" He answered vaguely.

 _"They rarely change"_

"Is that so?" He murmured, it wasn't as if he'd spent a lot of time looking at them, either, but if he could save himself a battle then he'd not bother turning around at all.

 _"…don't know why you keep coming up here,"_ The demon said, his voice low and promising a warning. _"But you should find somewhere else to watch those clouds"_

He knew demons were territorial. They liked their zones and places and dens or whatever kind of Home they could make and they didn't like it being interfered with. But a roof? Perhaps…

 _Please not one of those Winged bastards…._

Tobi turned hesitantly, finding a shadow demon half-in and half-out of the deepest and darkest patch of shadow on the wall.

" _Leave"_ The demon ordered, a frown on his face. Well that settled that matter, then. Tobi leapt off the edge of the roof and landed on the concrete ground below with nothing but a tingle in his feet. When he looked back up to the roof the shadow demon was stood over it, shrouded in a hazy black fog with his eyes piercing through.

Obito averted his eyes and quickly walked away.

OOO

He'd gone back there purely for information gathering. There was a particular plant that grew only in the demon realm and he'd been focussed on finding it too much to bother wondering about anything else. Not if he'd see A, B and C race past, or if that shadow demon would cross his path again, nothing of the sort - just the damned plant that he couldn't find, the only one Fugaku's scientists were throwing a fit over because of some secret 'properties' it may or may not have. And of course, being the best at gathering information had brought his name up in conversation.

It hadn't been enough to just locate the realm which the almost-extinct thing grew in, but then he had to source it and find it and collect it, too? Were the field agents doing anything for themselves these days? Or were they all too busy dying?

"Hate it all" He grumbled, storming through the streets like a black whirlwind determined to get through to the outlands. They were less kind than the central market village, the place might as well be a permanently darkened desert. Whatever fumes and toxins there that the flora gave off barely made it thirty feet into the air before becoming a black cloud. The outlands were riddled with them, and a permanent shadow was cast over it as a result. He'd enjoyed learning about it from a distance, but would happily exchange his place with the moron who decided to send him in the first place.

 _"You"_

There was nobody else who would recognise him, so he wasn't surprised to see that shadow demon lurking in the nearest available space - which, given his current place in the outlands, was anywhere he liked - and a few paces in front of him.

"Me" He murmured, keeping his movements continual but slow. If he stopped, he was as good as a sitting duck. If he moved too quickly, he'd likely be attacked. Slow and steady was the best way to go, and hopefully the demon would leave him be.

 _"Why are you back here?"_

"I'm looking for something" He frowned at how easily those words had slipped off his tongue, and then saw a guarded expression flick across the demon's face.

 _"Looking for what?"_

"A plant" He admitted, wondering if the demon might help. They weren't known for their niceties, especially not in their own realm where bar brawls were commonplace and fights were as regular as conversations. Shadow demons, though, were a little on the 'internal' side. They were darker and deeper, much more complicated than the other extroverted demons that surrounded them, but no less powerful because of it.

 _"Out here?"_ The demon asked.

"Apparently so" Obito kept walking as he past the demon's shadowed cloud, expecting to be stopped at every heartbeat.

 _"Good luck…"_

When he turned to see what kind of expression the demon had (humour would mean his search was going to be futile, serious meant he was probably going to die in the process of finding it), the demon had already disappeared.

OOO

He couldn't find it. Once he relayed as much to his superiors, they'd assigned a team to go alternatively so that there wouldn't be any health repercussions. Days in the demon realm were fine in small doses, but a longer period brought health issues so Obito couldn't do the entire search by himself, even if he was ordered to. Luckily he wasn't, and there were another four people on rotation every two days to find the damned plant.

He'd made his rounds eight times, checking off the places on the map where the others hadn't searched yet, and wondering if the thing was even still in existence. He was nearing his limit, his headache growing and his body feeling numb and heavy, when the shadow demon surprised him.

 _"Are they with you?"_ He asked abruptly. _"The other four that keep lingering around here. Are you all searching for the same thing? This plant?"_ They hadn't worn uniforms specifically to stop them being identified as members of The Uchiha Corps Facility. How had the demon known they were with him? A lucky assumption?

"Unfortunately" Obito answered, glancing at the demon half-out of the cave wall he'd just come out of. "How did you know?" He asked hesitantly.

" _There are rarely visitors to these parts. The ones that do….they know what they're looking for and where they can find it"_ Obito raised his eyebrows, because he did know what he was looking for and he knew it must be around there somewhere. He just hadn't anticipated the sparseness of the outlands and its ridiculous ability to turn people in circles. It all looked the same, much like everything else in the dark and dreary world.

 _"What's your plant called?"_ The demon asked. When Obito recited it back, the demon seemed more hesitant. _"You won't find that here"_

"My information tells me otherwise"

 _"Suit yourself"_ And the demon was gone.

OOO

The plant turned up eventually, but it had taken months and he'd marvelled at those lab-geeks' patience as they waited for it. He wanted to destroy it the moment he knew that Orochimaru was heading the research they were doing on it, or with it, just out of pure spite. The demon had also lied to him, telling him he wouldn't find it there and he had. So he was angry at that too. That was not a good week.


	3. Chapter 3

It was funny how some of the human traditions had made their way over into the Arcane Territories. Their 'holidays' for instance were becoming more commonplace, and Christmas was a 'thing'. The entire streets were lined with lights and everyone seemed more cheery and open to conversation; it was as if the world was opening up and all he wanted to do was go and bury his head in the sand somewhere where Christmas didn't exist. They'd gotten a Holiday Bonus at work. There were Holiday Offers at the local stores and suddenly everything was annoying and obnoxious.

It wasn't ideal. He was a complete introvert and a Uchiha to boot - their stoic and calm nature had become a trademark, even if Obito did consider it some kind of psychological conditioning. They were brought up to not let their emotions overrule their brilliant minds, and it generally left anything enjoyable to be ignored or sidelined. Christmas wasn't useful. It didn't make him happy, he didn't see the point in borrowing human holidays for 'fun' when they took it as seriously as they did (didn't they start wars over these things?) and he was not going to be attending their 'Work Christmas Party'. Hell-fucking-no.

He barricaded himself in his apartment, shutting the doors, the windows and the curtains before taking a long shower, changing into his comfy clothes and curling up in front of his computer system. He was thinner, he knew, because the waistband of his pants kept falling down his hips. The neckline of his long-sleeved top used to scoop around his collar bone, but now it hung down limply. The cuffs at the sleeves moved when he typed and it irritated him more than it should.

Work had been gruelling, more-so than usual because Orochimaru had apparently gained a few more successful experiments which had led to a rise in funding. It didn't matter that nobody was quite sure what the man was aiming for, or whether it was in line with the Uchiha's remit for defences and technology progression.

Obito shuddered whenever Orochimaru passed him, he couldn't walk down the labs any more without encountering him so he'd slowly been avoiding them altogether. There was something about him that put him on edge and he hated it. He'd done all of the digging that he could possibly do on the guy and nothing legitimate had come up. It was all clearly doctored in one way or another, and the fact that it was _that_ believable and that he hadn't been the one to do it made him angrier.

The Head must've known. Fugaku wasn't an idiot and he was all about progression and 'things moving forward' so it was only natural that he'd branch out into other things. But something about it didn't settle right with him.

Anyway, he was home now. Away from the stress of work and sat staring at a screen wondering what the heck he used to do before work got so dismal and serious, when a message popped up in the corner.

 **'Kashi:** Yo. You alive?

 **Tobi:** Alive enough…why?

 **'Kashi:** Meet me at the noodle place next to Hen's in fifteen minutes.

Didn't Kakashi have better things to do? The man always had plans, even if it was sitting in a tree and reading a damned book.

 **Tobi:** I'm comfy here.

 **'Kashi:** …then do you have food?

Tobi glanced at his kitchen.

 **Tobi:** Probably not.

 **'Kashi:** You suck.

Tobi sighed and opened up another browser window, transferring some money directly over into another account and encrypting it. Then he put it into Kakashi's, noting Rin's name tagged alongside it - a joint account, now. How long had it even been since he'd seen his two friends? His _only_ two friends, really.

 **Tobi:** There's money in your account. You buy food.

 **'Kashi:** I bring food. You set up.

 **Tobi:** Okay?

 **'Kashi:**...If you've actually put money in my account, I'll hate you.

 **Tobi:** Fine

 **'Kashi:** I'm serious…

 **Tobi:** I know

 **'Kashi: …**

 **'Kashi:** You have! You put money in my account again! I fucking hate you.

 **'Kashi:** I told you to stop doing that!

 **'Kashi:** Take it out

Tobi wondered if his friend had any common sense, sometimes. Even if he could take it back out (which was entirely possible if only a little bit rude), it would make more sense for Kakashi to transfer it back himself. Besides, that really wasn't the point.

 **Tobi:** You have twenty minutes. If you're not here, I'm going to sleep.

 **'Kashi:** Don't be a grouch

 **Tobi:** Just hurry the fuck up

 **'Kashi:** Someone's moody!

 **'Kashi:** Tobi?

 **'Kashi:** ….

 **'Kashi:** Hey?

 **'Kashi:** Fine. I'm bringing tomatoes.

 **'Kashi:** …. Don't ignore me…

Tobi watched the messages blip up his screen, wondering if Kakashi was walking and messaging at the same time, or if he was using his own computer and hadn't even left his apartment yet. The man had a wonderful amount of energy and Obito had frequently questioned why they were even friends. Kakashi was half-fey and half-warlock, courtesy of his parents, and worked with the general law enforcement of the Arcane Territories. He'd known about Obito's hacking abilities since they were barely in double-digits, but he'd never questioned his reasons for using them.

Kakashi's magic was always growing, but he'd always shied away from his hereditary ethereal look, covering his silver-light hair, his porcelain skin and his dark eyes - but more recently he'd taken to wearing a mask over the lower half of his face instead. Obito remembered Rin joking that it was because she was the only one allowed to see - but Obito knew Kakashi was just embarrassed. He always had been a bashful child, easily flustered and preferring to hide behind a book. It was what had bonded them together as friends at such an early age - neither were looking for boisterous or outgoing friends.

Once Kakashi started working with the law enforcement, it was mandatory for him to wear the typical uniform that consisted of almost fully covering himself from head to toe in black. While on field work, gloves and masks and hats were essential, and Tobi knew that Kakashi - for the most part - liked doing his job. He liked doing what he knew how to, working with the rules and doing things 'for the good'.

It was an enviable trait, and one that Tobi knew he didn't always have in himself to carry through. It was an entirely different world to the dark one that he now found himself working in with the Uchiha Corps Facility. Currently the two corporations worked together for the common good - Obito still hoped they might continue to - but if things were heading in the direction he thought then there'd be indefinite warfare between the two within the next three years. That was a thought he didn't want to entertain at all.

Nearly twenty minutes later and he heard knocking at his door. Of course Kakashi had charmed his way through the main entrance - age had give him a bit more confidence in his looks - and Obito couldn't exactly say it didn't work or have its benefits. Obito opened the door an inch and Kakashi slipped in like a shadow.

"Suspicious as ever" His friend was as cheery as ever despite the fact, and immediately went over to the kitchen area to start up their food. "Thanks for the money, but I'll be returning it to you at the earliest opportunity"

"Consider it an apology for the inconvenience" Tobi mumbled, shuffling onto the dining chair with all of the movements that his stiffened body would allow. He hated days off; he felt so much worse when his routine was stopped.

"Inconvenience?" Kakashi echoed with a laugh. "If anything, I've not made time enough for you. How long's it been?"

"I'm not-"

"Nearly eight months, I'm sure" Kakashi frowned and then slowed his chaotic unpacking.

"After the engagement party" Obito remembered, and then noticed the way his friend's shoulders hunched.

"…shouldn't have left you alone though. I mean, I know you like your space and stuff, but … dude, I'm sorry" Kakashi had recently gotten engaged to Rin and both of them being the closest friends that Obito had, he'd originally felt a little awkward with the two of them.

"It's fine" But recently, Obito had barely given it a second thought and shamefully he hadn't had the time to be happy for them. His brain had been filled up with everything _work work work work work work work work work work work-_

"Tobi?" Kakashi was staring at him, those eyes burning into his thoughts. "Everything okay?"

"Just tired"

"Right, well… I guess we can eat later" The food was abruptly ignored and a folder was pulled from one of the bags; It looked like one of the ones that Rin used for filing. She had plenty of them, being a doctor at one of the best hospitals in the Arcane Territories.

"I thought you might find these interesting" Kakashi said, opening up the first page and letting the content sink in.

Obito frowned at it all, staring at the pictures for longer than a normal person could manage. Kakashi had already turned back to the food, half making an effort to prepare it and half using it as an excuse to not see how morbidly fascinated his friend was with the photographs.

"Did you take these?" Obito asked quietly.

"Most of them. Some I copied from the camera cards when-" At Obito's horrified look, Kakashi explained "When nobody was there, I made sure"

"It's always a risk…" Obito murmured.

"One that I think I'll be getting away with" Kakashi smiled an inch and there was an added sparkle in his eye - a bit of Good and Light in the quickly darkening world that Obito was living in. "But… I'm getting the feelings things aren't as straightforward as they once were"

"Meaning?"

"Recently we've been seeing an increase in missing persons, or unexplainable disappearances or dead bodies turning up…elsewhere. And I don't think it's random"

"Why are you telling me this?" Obito looked away from the files, frowning at his friend. "I'm sure there's a confidentiality agreement somewhere that you're breaking"

"There's a ton of laws your breaking with that cute little computer over there but let's gloss over that, shall we?"

"Don't be coy" Obito chided him.

"Ignoring the fact that these files shouldn't technically be out of the office," Kakashi sighed, caught. "I need you to look at them and see if you can find a pattern"

"I can't-"

"There's something I'm missing" Kakashi said plainly. "I look at them, I see different kinds of demon, witches with specific abilities, witches with hardly _any_ useful abilities, warlocks with copious amounts of energy, ones with stunted powers, a few incubus, the fey-"

"They're harmless"

When Kakashi shrugged, Obito's stomach flopped.

"There's more than fifty of them, Obito. Fifty lives that have been taken and you can't tell me this is humane - or legal. Someone or something is doing this. The higher ups won't go up against the UCF - they're trying to bury this and it doesn't feel right. They have to be involved. The UCF can't just be for technology and defence advancement - it'll grow. And I know for a fact that Fugaku is ambitious"

"I don't know what you're suggesting" Obito stood up and started pacing, his head already pounding. He'd probably done more talking and listening with Kakashi than he had with anyone in a whole three months.

"I'm not suggesting anything, I'm rambling" Kakashi sighed and watched as Obito paced the kitchen with controlled breaths - one in for every three steps. "Maybe if I fire some theories at you, you can at least tell me they're impossible and I can rule them out. My point is," Kakashi continued. "My gut is telling me there's a pattern. They're all linked, I know it. I just can't see it"

Obito shook his head, not wanting to say anything, sure his Uchiha-trait red eyes were glowing with fascination and intrigue despite the morbid topic.

"I'd still be here if you didn't have those eyes, you know. I don't need them, I need your brain. Tell me what I'm missing"

"Can't Rin-"

"You" Kakashi leant forwards onto the counter between them. "You know I want ramen before I tell you I'm hungry. You know where I'll end up before I'm even there. I don't get it, but I don't begrudge it. There's something in that mind of yours that understands the things I haven't yet. Can't you try?"

He wasn't sure why he was able to understand Kakashi the way he did, but it wasn't always limited to him. He found he could usually gauge things in a similar way with other people, but he supposed it worked better if you knew the traits well enough to predict a more likely outcome. With Kakashi it was easy because he'd known him so long.

Perhaps that was why not knowing what Orochimaru was up to was setting him on edge so much.

Tobi sat back down and spread the pictures and documents out silently. He scanned over the paper-clipped details and tried to suck the information into his tired brain. Looking at just the images, he could tell that the UCF was involved somehow from those photographs. The way the bodies were left, the things they'd had done to them, it was too clinical. Too precise. And with what he knew of the growing laboratories, maybe it was a possibility they were involved. He certainly wouldn't put it past Orochimaru, but this was hellish. It was almost nonsensical. He couldn't find a pattern to link any of the fifty cases - without that, Kakashi wouldn't be able to move forward with anything.

Unless…. there was meant to be no sense behind it? Maybe it was supposed to be random at this point…

"Can I ask you something else?" Kakashi asked after a while, having already occupied himself making a coffee. When Obito looked up briefly - a usual indication of _'go on' -_ Kakashi continued. "At the UCF, do you know why you're doing what _you're_ doing?"

In truth, he didn't. He'd long since fallen into the trap of working because it was what he knew and what he was good at and so far it hadn't caused him any problems. At least, it hadn't before. Now it was beginning to.

"Not always" He admitted. "But arguing with Fugaku Uchiha isn't something I'd do without proper ammunition…"

"I know" Kakashi barely whispered it, but every hair on Obito's body stood up.

"Please don't" He begged. "Whatever you're thinking of doing, now is not the time"

"So the UCF is up to something?"

"Don't twist this" Obito was sure he was panicking. Getting Kakashi involved in the UCF was the very last thing he wanted to do.

"Look, I haven't said anything to Rin or to anyone else. But my team think the same, I can see it in their eyes, but we don't speak about it. Someone or something is turning up these...warped and tortured bodies. I don't know what else to do, Tobi. I have no'one else to ask"

"I don't know anything" Tobi admitted, putting the pictures back in the folder and hoping they'd disappear before he slept.

"There has to be something" Kakashi was nearing the end of his tether, he could feel it. Obito was his last resort at making any kind of links with this, and unless he steered him _away,_ he couldn't be sure Kakashi would make a huge deal of the matter and take it right to Fugaku's office with a warrant of arrest for something.

While the idea appealed, Kakashi's main problem was that he couldn't pin anything down. There was no links to the bodies in the first place - other than them all being disappearances within the previous two years - and there was certainly nothing but Kakashi's gut instinct telling him the UCF had anything to do with it.

"I'll go on the offensive if you can't" Kakashi said cautiously, sipping his drink.

"You think I'm lying?"

"I think you're hiding - which you're very good at, but I know you"

He'd had enough. He'd forgotten how _much_ Kakashi could be sometimes.

"Offensive it is" Kakashi left his cup and scooped up all the documents and images, clearing the table between them and going back to the food. They were silent for a long while and Obito found it peaceful - a calm before the storm which Kakashi - or his own mind - would bring.

The bowl of food was placed in front of him, soup and noodles together in one bowl. Kakashi's way of forcing him to eat the whole lot, else he'd have picked at the soup and toyed with the noodles and had neither.

They ate quietly, and gradually Obito felt himself loosen up. The quiet was comforting, Kakashi wasn't bothering him and there was something about having him there that reminded him of happy childhood days. It was _easier._

"How's work?" Kakashi said, sipping at his soup with his bowl at his chin, completely at ease with their dark little world.

"Fine" Obito replied, eyeing up the chopsticks and wondering if it was really worth the effort.

"I put extra flavours in yours" Kakashi indicated to the soup and he knew he had to at least try it. After a bit longer, Kakashi murmured, "You got most of the veg, too"

Obito stopped trying, pushing the bowl in Kakashi's direction and putting his head into his hands.

"You won't eat it?"

"Kakashi, stop _trying_ "

"…hey" Kakashi was there beside him, hands on his shoulders, those dark eyes staring right at him. "I'm sorry, just breathe" He wasn't aware he was struggling to until his chest began to burn.

His thoughts raged - all of the things he wanted to tell Kakashi were right there in the back of his throat but when he tried to force them out he ended up gasping for breath.

 _Workloads have increased dramatically since Orochimaru started working at the UCF._

 _There's been a higher death toll since he took over co'ordinating the labs._

 _They've upped the security systems to a forty-three layered encryption that costs three times as much to keep running._

 _They've only used it on the laboratory areas, but that they're planning to extend it to the new Kennex facility that's being built._

 _They're making me erase people._

Obito was almost certain that he knew what Orochimaru was after - and he wasn't above waiting for it if he had to. He wanted the top position of that entire Kennex project - whatever it was going to be - but the fact that he wanted it made Obito crazy with confusion. _Why why why why why why why?_ What would it do that could make him so damn eager? Nothing good, surely.

"...there we go" Kakashi murmured, smiling an inch despite the nerves in his eyes as Obito evened out his breathing. "I didn't mean to set you off; I'm sorry"

Obito nudged his friends hands off him and recomposed himself.

When neither of them said anything more and Kakashi was clearly growing nervous, the space between them seemed to grow more anxious.

"I didn't mean to push you" Kakashi said quietly, the guilt in his voice was enough. "It's been annoying me for too long and you're my only reliable link to that place - I don't mean to use you but I'm running out of threads. It's clearly eating at you too"

"….What are you going to do?" Obito asked, after a long while of wondering whether or not he wanted to know.

"Look into Orochimaru" As soon as the words left Kakashi's lips Obito's veins ran cold. "He's the changed factor in all of this and you haven't mentioned him once. There's the new Kennex facility which I know for a fact has no official purpose yet. There's also been a few previous complaints about his work ethic, so I'll go from there"

"You didn't need me for that"

"I know" Kakashi nursed his drink, staring at it. "Maybe I just needed to tell someone so I can stop thinking I'm going crazy" He let out a small, humourless laugh. "But you'll let me know if you think of anything else? Or if there's anything that's bothering you?" He couldn't be sure he would, after this. Perhaps keeping his friend at arms length would be good for the both of them.

"I know that face, don't shut me out" Kakashi insisted. "Let me know if you have any of those weird nightmares, too"

Dreaming wasn't an uncommon way for his thoughts to gather. He used to wake wondering if those ideas were just as crazy as other people's dream-things, but he'd gathered from a few hit-and-misses that for ninety-three percent of the time his dreams were more like memory/thought overflows. Kakashi loved solving them, and perhaps Obito would too but they always gave him migraines.

"Are we done?" Obito asked quietly, glancing to the clock and wondering if Kakashi would leave.

"I haven't seen you in eight months" Kakashi abandoned what little was left of his dinner and swiftly moved to flop onto the very unused couch. He reached for the nearest book on the coffee table - and there were many - and brought it up to his face oddly-angled. "How about we just read for a while"

Obito couldn't exactly argue with that, other than he knew he couldn't keep his eyes open much longer. Keeping two panic attacks at bay and having his friend back for less than an hour, working for over twelve hours and having less than eight hours sleep all in one go was exhausting.

He left his barely-touched food and went to the other chair opposite the couch. He wrapped the constant blanket there around him and picked a book from the coffee table as well, entirely for decorative purposes. He'd be asleep before he could finish the first page.

"Want me to read to you?" Kakashi asked easily, wiggling his book. "It's a good one"

Obito murmured an incoherent response and Kakashi chose to receive it as an affirmative.

He couldn't remember Kakashi even starting.


	4. Chapter 4

The ominous pressure of _something_ was pressing on his shoulders so much that he could barely drag himself out of bed in the morning. Even staring at a screen felt like too much hard work. On one of his required days off, he only turned his computer on to run a security check. He didn't care about running the tracking system to see if A, B and C popped up (they never did any more and he presumed it was a good thing), he didn't bother to check his mail (didn't get much of that either) and wasn't prepared to do anything else other than sleep. Once he was sure his home systems were safe, for the first time in at least seven months he shut his computer down.

Rin would probably tell him he was depressed. Kakashi would agree that 'today is a bad day' and come over with some snacks, hot drinks and a few books - something mellow and non-active. It didn't matter. They enjoyed the things he didn't and he was okay to keep them at arms length with the way things were going. They could be content in their happy bubble while he fretted about shadows and hypothetical scenarios and snake-like oddities.

He hadn't heard anything about Kakashi progressing with his ideas, so he presumed that argument had settled down. Otherwise, it was the same as usual.

 _Work work work work work work work work._

OOO

He'd gone to the demon realm again purely out of stress relief. _Relief._ He never imagined that such a boisterous and manic world could be better than his own homeland, but nothing about his apartment felt safe or comfortable, nothing about his office at work felt productive or worth while, and absolutely nothing at the UCF could stimulate an inch of emotion. He was past caring about the experiments; they wound him up just thinking about them, and he couldn't do a damn thing about them so what was the point in getting angry? He couldn't dig any further into Orochimaru without Kakashi getting suspicious, and he wasn't going to risk that when his friend was already looking for something - _anything -_ to get his nails into.

The demons had their own problems, but there was something brutal about watching them fight it out. They fought over stupid things - an elbow to the ribs, an accidental nudge, a wrong comment, who's horns were bigger - but watching them battle seemed to even out his own internal storm. It was ridiculously soothing.

 _"Back again?"_ From the shadows of the booth to his right, the shadow demon casually slipped into the seats and stared. Obito didn't bother answering, just kept staring at the demons in the bar that seemed to be permanently pushing for a fight.

 _"What are you studying this time?"_ The demon asked, frowning, the shadows on his face seeming to make him appear sharper. Obito didn't answer and the demon shut up, not ordering a drink from the bar or gaining anyone else's attention. Oddly enough the demon's presence wasn't pressurising or overwhelming. He just sort of…settled. There was no threat emanating from him, not even a hint of conflict, just a funny sensation in his gut like he was staring at a black hole.

Obito had covered his eyes with some orange glasses; people could be more drawn to them, but better they thought him strange than know he was a Uchiha.

Of course, this demon already knew he was.

He wanted to ask about A, B and C. He wanted to know how they got through the portals, how they bypassed security measures, how three children had found their way running through the streets of a demon realm. But he knew the demon would be suspicious if he asked, who wouldn't?

 _"You won't find them here"_

Obito turned to the demon out of surprise. Could he read minds? He shook his head lightly and tried to focus on the potential fighting. When he glanced back to see if the demon was annoyed or not, he was surprised to see the space was empty. The shadow demon had left.

OOO

At some point, it was officially announced that the new soon-to-be Kennex facility would be finished in perfect timing with Itachi's sixteenth birthday. Fugaku's oldest son would have complete control over everything in there.

Obito imagined that small child he'd seen clutching his mothers skirts, the younger boy he knew that boasted to his friends about his new little brother, that same boy that was the most popular and smartest in his class, the very boy who he'd always known would grow into the stoic carbon copy of Fugaku Uchiha, and he felt a sense of loss. Like he'd failed somehow. Obito knew the boy was something of a genius, but it didn't sit right with him at all.

He knew it was Orochimaru's aim to be in charge of that entire building and any of it's internal projects. He wouldn't be happy with it just being handed to the Boss' son. Just another thing to rub Obito the wrong way.

He'd briefly had a look at other jobs; he didn't care if it was lesser pay, he just wanted something that wasn't so mentally draining. He was an autopilot for most of the time, he'd even stopped looking at Orochimaru's files when they came to be 'erased'. He didn't bother looking into the curious things that Fugaku put on his desk, either. What was the point if he didn't have a voice to use it? And he was also pretty sure that Fugaku knew something wasn't a hundred percent with Obito. The man used the same lingering look on him every time he left the office, the kind of one you'd give to a dog as a warning after saying 'stay'. The week after that, Fugaku had upped his pay again.

OOO

Orochimaru had a new idea for him to try out.

A way to make defensive energy into an offensive. His exact example had been a way to turn a defensive shield into its own holding cell. The idea that someone could create their own defensive barrier for safety and for Orochimaru to then turn it against them as a prison made him more than nauseous. How exactly would this help the defensive aspects of the Uchiha Corps?

"We'll need a way to stop them eventually" Had been the argument. "Too many are putting up barriers and shields and it's wasting our time and resources. Something like this should be easy for someone of your skills, no?"

Fugaku had even signed off on it, ignoring the fact that it was a blatant disregard for any personal protection whatsoever.

Obito had started work on it slowly, deliberately hesitant and so very careful that he knew Orochimaru would probably make more check-ups on him. But he'd rather that than give him a full product without a contingency plan. Every one of his ideas always had a fail-safe, some kind of switch-off or back up should it go wrong. It never did, and he'd never needed to use them, but this felt so wrong that he knew he needed something there just in case.

 **Nearly a year later…**

He'd had almost eleven months to complete the idea that Orochimaru had set for him. In between that and sleeping, he'd gone to the demon realm regularly for inspiration, hoping to see the monstrous beings that Orochimaru saw and how and why Obito's new solution would help to detain them.

But the demons rarely used shields, he found. So they couldn't have been the prime target or resource for Orochimaru's findings. Witches and warlocks were more likely to use such barriers, or certain fey if they had hereditary abilities. Demons, more often than not, simply fought their way out of trouble. It wasn't doing his conscience any good to see that.

Kakashi turned up again, with more theories suggesting that the Law Enforcement was taking some kind of instruction or information from the UCF.

"It might not be Fugaku," Kakashi explained. "I'm leaning towards Orochimaru"

"Why?" Obito asked, wondering if his friend had any solid evidence to use to go up against the corporate giants.

"….a hunch"

"Kakashi…"

"I know, I know. I'm not going to do anything with this yet, I'm building it up. _Carefully"_ He added, knowing Obito's concerns. "But I think my higher-ups are planning something big - like a take-down or something - possibly a complete wipe-out. That'll mean mass-deaths and a cover-up if needed - and that's not just for anybody. It bothers me that the information might've come from Orochimaru - nothing about him fills me with confidence"

"Another hunch?"

"Tobi, I'm not making this shit up" Kakashi frowned at him and Obito backed down. "We're supposedly getting anonymous calls about frequent brushes here and there with the same style of offence. Twice as many demon attacks, three times as many illegal crossings through into the human world - unauthorised - and there's more than that going through the demon ones. It's looking like trafficking. They've targeted a few demons already. There's two floating about somewhere that have energy core's higher than the Arcane Limit"

"Stop speaking" Obito rubbed his head and closed his eyes.

"No demon can hold that much energy and just move around like they do. It has to be coming from somewhere and it's upsetting the balances. There's 'natural disasters' in the human world, the fey's _cosmic vibrations_ or whatever the fuck they call it goes mental whenever they pass through. It's serious"

"But what does that have to do with Orochimaru?" Obito asked, trying to find the link that Kakashi was grappling for. Maybe he could shoot it down before his friend got himself killed.

"I'm sure he's the one supplying the information to our teams and I think he's using your tracking system to do it"

"Your Law Enforcement has its own tracking capabilities - there shouldn't be a difference. It's all set to the required-"

"-Regulations - I know. But ours is only to track the ones _we_ bring in and tag. It's purely for our records to monitor any re-offences. We have no reason to track anything else. The UCF seem to have no trouble doing that, though…" He hedged off and Obito could only stare at him. "Isn't it an invasion of privacy to just track things like you're doing?"

"The UCF is monitoring its areas and everything around it. It's surveillance"

"And you can't help the fact that the UCF owns a hell of a lot of land in very strategic places? Or that they own three quarters of all the security for any portals in and out of the Arcane Territories?"

"It's in line with their defence ethos. It's necessary"

"It's bullshit" Kakashi huffed, his eyes narrowing. "Orochimaru is up to something and I'm going to find out what. I want to know why he's playing nice and giving us information - he doesn't seem like the sharing type"

"Kakashi…."

"I'll be careful. _I'm being careful._ I just need you to know all of this in case something happens"

"Don't say that" Obito stared at Kakashi and felt his head swim when he saw the seriousness in his eyes. "If it's that bad, stay out of it"

"You know I can't" Kakashi murmured. "Orochimaru is an itch I can't scratch. I'm willing to tear myself apart if it means figuring out what his game is"

He wanted to ask if there was anything he could do, something he could find out in order to help Kakashi get over the whole thing a lot quicker, but he held his tongue. He couldn't shake the feeling that the road Kakashi had set down was only going to end badly, and he didn't want to screw things up if Kakashi was already making a lead on it. He'd keep his head down for now, and maybe when the time came he could be useful.

"Do you think I'm a traitor?" He found himself asking, the words heavy and burdensome in his mouth.

"What?" Kakashi had almost laughed. "Tobi, you could stab me in the back and I'd always assume you had a good reason for doing it"

"Please don't say that" He whispered, the mere idea of something taking more precedence over the life of his best friend made him physically recoil. Kakashi just smiled.

"I'd still prefer to be stabbed in the back by you than anyone else"

"Kakashi, stop"

"You're the most accurate shot I know"

"Kakashi"

"Even Rin's not as precise, and that's saying something because she's surgical - alright, I'll stop" Hands up in surrender, Kakashi sat back in his chair with his hands behind his head, feet up on the table looking relaxed. "There's a festival thing on next weekend. Rin's working through the weekend so she can't come with me"

"Too bad" Obito murmured, knowing where this was going. Kakashi was a menace at festivals, always wanting to win things and compete and buy things and drink himself silly. Granted, it was all good fun, but it was like looking after a child. He wouldn't have the energy to.

"It's okay, though. I know a guy who's a _really good shot_ who can win me portions of ramen" Kakashi grinned.

OOO

The festival was quaint and human-like, another thing they'd copied from them. There were stalls, witches selling things, warlocks showing off, demon pop-up bars, fighting rings, duel courts, food stands, even the fey had a stall. A few pretty things were face painting children with beautiful artworks.

There had been various market stalls on for many years, but nothing as exciting and purely pleasurable like this.

He'd stuck to Kakashi for as long as he could, but the crowds were too big and at some point they'd become separated. Kids were weaving their way through the crowds and Obito just seemed to get swallowed up in them. He found himself a darkened corner to breathe in and stayed there, trying to figure out his next move. As he did, three children rushed past and he immediately thought of A, B and C. But these were smaller, three girls carrying sticks of food with their faces painted decoratively. Not his mysterious little trio.

He found Kakashi shortly after and they'd gone to get something to eat. Obito had steered clear of the demon bars and Kakashi had steered them towards the open bonfire. As the night seemed to descend on them, the children left and the families cleared and gradually the youths seemed to overtake the place. They were more brazen, more energetic and hopeful and wasteful with their money.

"You've lost your sense of fun" Kakashi told him, seeing Obito pull faces at the kids. "The whole point of being that age is to let yourself explore things. If they want to get their asses handed to them by a horned demon's fist, let them"

Obito would never have bothered.

Kakashi watched, entertained by the young wolf and his friends attempting to take down a fully grown demon, and Obito decided to people-watch.

He was content doing that until he felt an odd feeling of familiarity that automatically made him think of A, B and C. When he scanned the crowds, trying to be discrete, he couldn't see anything immediate but once he adjusted and looked more carefully, he saw them.

They were older, now probably in their mid-teens, smiles on their faces and walking close together. He watched as they walked, the group around them seeming to be with them too. He counted three demons - no, wait… four. The shadow one was there as well. Three kids surrounded by four demons… that in itself baffled him.

The shadow demon glanced up and Obito turned away. He wasn't sure why he'd avoided being caught, but he wasn't going to risk ruining their fun.

He caught snippets of them as they crossed his field of vision. He didn't look for them, didn't want to draw any attention to them, but when his eye did catch them he memorised their every move like a dance. The three kids didn't run any more, but the girl was holding hands with one of them. The other was always close to the demons, not out of fear or protection but something else. Each time Obito saw them he was talking to and walking with a different one.

Kakashi peered over curiously.

"What's got your attention?"

"Nothing" Obito turned to the fight ring that Kakashi had wanted to check out. "Let's go"

Kakashi had bet on the timid-looking warlock to win the fight against the winged demon and won - he always had a soft spot for the underdog - and was collecting his winnings when Obito felt a rush of something dark, his stomach twisting knowingly.

 _"Uchiha,"_ The shadow demon had found him. _"This doesn't seem like your kind of event"_

"It's not" He admitted, turning to see the demon half out of the wall that Obito was leaning against. He was waiting for Kakashi to come back. "Is it yours?" He found himself asking.

 _"Not particularly. We're distracting ourselves"_

"From what?"

 _"…a friend left today. We'll miss them"_ Obito didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing instead, hoping the demon would leave. _"We saw you watching us"_

"I meant nothing by it"

 _"Truly?"_ The demon tipped his head thoughtfully. _"You're so dark, we can't tell"_

"Dark?" Tobi echoed, and the demon's black hand reached out and gently poked Obito's chest.

 _"In here"_ He said. _"Dark like a raven's feathers"_ Obito didn't know what to say. A fight broke out in the far corner and he turned, hoping Kakashi wasn't caught up in it. _"Looks like we're moving on,"_ When he said 'us', Obito couldn't be sure who exactly he meant. He'd long since noticed that the demon either had two personalities or had two minds, referring to himself as 'we'. But now he was with a group, he couldn't be sure if 'we' meant himself, or all of the others he'd come with.

 _"Do you have a name?"_ The demon asked, all but his head immersed in the shadowed wall.

"Do you?" Obito asked flatly, and the demon may have smiled as he shied back into the shadowed wall and disappeared.

Kakashi ran over moments later with his bag full of money, the fighting in the corner seemingly dissolved.

"You're going to think I'm crazy" Kakashi grabbed Obito's arm with his free hand and all but pulled him out of the oversized den. "Remember I said about those demons way over the Arcane's Limit? I'm pretty sure they're here"

"We're here for fun. We need to find something to take back for Rin" Obito said emotionlessly, hoping his friend would see sense.

"Yes, but if I can put a face to what it is Orochimaru is gunning for, maybe I can find out more. They're _here,_ Obito. Why waste an opportunity?"

"I'm leaving" Obito couldn't do both. He could barely keep enough energy to force himself awake nowadays, it was enough to try and hold some enthusiasm over a festival but not a wild goose chase too.

"Tobi, please" Kakashi had his arm again, his eyes pleading.

So they spent the rest of the festival searching and nothing came up. They were lucky to find Rin a stuffed horned demon teddy, which she didn't appreciate - Kakashi messaged him her reaction once they were at home - and Obito felt more stretched thin than he ever had. It hadn't helped Kakashi lay low like he wanted, it hadn't given him a reprieve like he'd hoped, and it hadn't done anything to quell Kakashi's desire to find out what the hell was going on.

Obito wasn't even sure why he was trying so hard to make him stop, other than the thought that if Kakashi ever did find out then he'd surely disappear within the week if it was something that Orochimaru didn't want him to know. He really wouldn't put it past the snake-like bastard and Obito didn't want to lose his closest friend because of a hunch.

OOO

A few weeks after that, he handed in his completed formula to turn a defensive mechanism into an offensive one.

He'd proven it worked, translated it into code for technological purposes and rendered it into a spell for magical outlets.

It would make it easier to put the spell onto an item like a glove, where all the user would have to do is touch the defensive barrier to switch its intention, or to put it on bullets, so that a good few rounds circulating the barrier's walls should lock its user in.

As tech-code, it could be dispersed like the wi-fi in the human realm to simply lock down multiple targets and halt them in their place. It didn't matter that he didn't know what would happen to them once they were 'locked down'. That wasn't Obito's job.

His job was done, his task complete.

And now Orochimaru had it.

OOO

 **Another year gone…**

Obito had frequented the demon realm more often than he ever had; work had taken its toll, his apartment wasn't anything more than a shell and Kakashi and Rin had both been suspiciously busy. He couldn't curtail their growing research into everything involving Orochimaru, and it was beginning to frustrate him that they wouldn't listen. The demon realm and all of its haze became a separate place for him to do as he pleased.

He hadn't expected to find Kakashi there, of all places, not in his Anbu uniform with his team so skilfully looking around, skipping through the shadows like the elites that they were. Though, Kakashi did look as equally stunned to see him there too - Obito wasn't his best friend for nothing. Despite the black uniform, the black hat over his silver hair and the static mask concealing his face, Obito could read Kakashi's movements like a book.

It was only for a split second as they crossed paths, and Kakashi's Anbu instinct would tell him to ignore all things he processed as 'familiar' until his job was done. In the meantime, Obito leant against a shadowed wall to wait, and Kakashi eventually came back to perch on top of it while out of sight.

"So…Business?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"Not really" Obito answered, frowning. "You?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Why?"

"We have a lead" Kakashi answered, a lightness to his tone. Things must be going his way. "We have information that-"

"I don't want to know" Obito said quickly, sighing loudly to make his point. Kakashi was quiet for a while.

"Rin's cooking a full dinner tonight" He said, barely whispering, so _so_ quietly and carefully. "You should come"

"…I'll try"

He'd probably not go, but this had been the usual for them both for a while now. For whatever reason, Obito just felt detached from them and felt much better when he didn't see them at all. Having Kakashi around made him think how much he missed his best friend, and with Rin there too he'd just find himself thinking how things were just so out of his control now.

"Be careful" Kakashi said, by way of goodbye, before launching off the wall and disappearing from sight.

He walked back through the alleyways - past his usual route close to the shadow-demon's suspected hide out (the one where A, B and C used to run into before he lost them), his head throbbing because he'd clearly overstayed his limit.


End file.
